Lyrics

On Linkin Park's first album, Hybrid Theory, the group declared that "the journey is more important than the end or the start." The Los Angeles rap-rockers certainly had an impressive start -- Hybrid Theory was the top-selling album of 2001 with more than 8 million copies... Read More

Song Lyrics Album Video Year
Jigga What/Faint Underground 5.0 2006
1stp Klosr Reanimation 2002
By_myslf Reanimation 2002
Big Pimpin'/Papercut Underground 5.0 2006
High Voltage In the End: Live & Rare 2002
High Voltage [Live] Underground 5.0 2006
High Voltage The Ballad Album
Forgotten Hybrid Theory 2000
Dirt off Your Shoulder/Lying from You Underground 5.0 2006
Crawling [DVD] Live in Texas 2003
Faint Meteora 2003
Faint Live in Texas 2003
Faint Live in Texas 2003
Faint The Ballad Album
From the Inside Live in Texas 2003
From the Inside [DVD] Live in Texas 2003
From the Inside [Live] The Ballad Album
In the End Live in Texas 2003
In the End [Album Version] In the End: Live & Rare 2002
In the End [DVD] Live in Texas 2003
Runaway Hybrid Theory 2000
Runaway Live in Texas 2003
Runaway Live in Texas 2003
Runaway The Ballad Album
Runaway The Ballad Album
Somewhere I Belong [DVD] Live in Texas 2003
Lying from You Live in Texas 2003
Lying from You [DVD] Live in Texas 2003
Figure.09 Meteora 2003
Session Meteora 2003
Somewhere I Belong Live in Texas 2003
Somewhere I Belong Underground 5.0 2006
Somewhere I Belong The Ballad Album
Figure.09 [DVD] Live in Texas 2003
Figure.09 Underground 5.0 2006
Don't Stay Meteora 2003
Don't Stay [DVD] Live in Texas 2003
Don't Stay Underground 5.0 2006
Don't Stay The Ballad Album
Hit the Floor Meteora 2003
From the Inside Meteora 2003
From the Inside The Ballad Album
Lying from You Meteora
  1. Play
2003
Lying from You The Ballad Album
Nobody's Listening Meteora 2003
Breaking the Habit Meteora 2003
Breaking the Habit Underground 5.0 2006
Breaking the Habit The Ballad Album
Step Up [1999 Demo] In the End: Live & Rare 2002
Step Up The Ballad Album
Easier to Run Meteora 2003
Easier to Run The Ballad Album
Points of Authority Hybrid Theory
  1. Play
2000
Points of Authority Live in Texas 2003
Points of Authority [Live at DocklandS Arena, London] In the End: Live & Rare 2002
Points of Authority [DVD] Live in Texas 2003
Points of Authority [Crystal Method Remix] Underground 5.0 2006
Points of Authority The Ballad Album
Points of Authority [Live] The Ballad Album
Crawling Hybrid Theory 2000
Crawling Live in Texas 2003
Crawling The Ballad Album
Pushing Me Away Hybrid Theory 2000
Pushing Me Away The Ballad Album
With You Hybrid Theory 2000
With You [DVD] Live in Texas 2003
With You Underground 5.0 2006
With You [Live] Underground 5.0 2006
By Myself Hybrid Theory 2000
By Myself [DVD] Live in Texas 2003
By Myself Underground 5.0 2006
Numb Meteora 2003
Numb Live in Texas 2003
Numb [DVD] Live in Texas 2003
Numb The Ballad Album
Papercut Hybrid Theory
  1. Play
2000
Papercut Live in Texas 2003
Papercut [Live at DocklandS Arena, London] In the End: Live & Rare 2002
Papercut [DVD] Live in Texas 2003
One Step Closer Hybrid Theory 2000
One Step Closer Live in Texas 2003
One Step Closer [DVD] Live in Texas 2003
One Step Closer [Live] Underground 5.0 2006
One Step Closer The Ballad Album
Cure for the Itch Hybrid Theory 2000
Somewhere I Belong Meteora 2003
Given Up Minutes to Midnight 2007
Leave out All the Rest Minutes to Midnight 2007
Hands Held High Minutes to Midnight 2007
Shadow of the Day Minutes to Midnight 2007
In Pieces Minutes to Midnight 2007
No More Sorrow Minutes to Midnight 2007
The Little Things Give You Away Minutes to Midnight 2007
Bleed It Out Minutes to Midnight 2007
In the End Hybrid Theory
  1. Play
2000
Place for My Head Hybrid Theory 2000
A Place for My Head [Live at DocklandS Arena, London] In the End: Live & Rare 2002
A Place for My Head [DVD] Live in Texas 2003
A Place for My Head Underground 5.0 2006
What I've Done Minutes to Midnight 2007
My December In the End: Live & Rare 2002
My December The Ballad Album
Valentine's Day Minutes to Midnight 2007
In Between Minutes to Midnight 2007
KRWLNG Reanimation 2002
H! Vltg3 Reanimation 2002
Numb/Encore [Remix] Underground 5.0 2006
WTH>You Reanimation 2002
Pts. Of. Athrty Reanimation 2002
Kyur4 TH Ich Reanimation
  1. Play
2002
P5hng Me A*wy Reanimation 2002
P5hng Me A*wy Live in Texas 2003
P5hng Me A*wy [DVD] Live in Texas 2003
FRGT/10 Reanimation 2002
My Reanimation 2002
Ente E ND Reanimation 2002
Enth E ND The Ballad Album
X-Ecutioner Style Reanimation 2002
X-Ecutioner Style The Ballad Album
Rnw@Y Reanimation 2002
Dedicated [Demo 1999] Underground 5.0 2006

On Linkin Park's first album, Hybrid Theory, the group declared that "the journey is more important than the end or the start." The Los Angeles rap-rockers certainly had an impressive start -- Hybrid Theory was the top-selling album of 2001 with more than 8 million copies sold in the United States -- but the journey is indeed ongoing.

As befits their genre, the sextet's lyricists, singer Chester Bennington and rapper Mike Shinoda, are most at home with angst and rage. Their songs are about loss, loneliness, insecurity, fear and, as time went on, the alarming state of world and particularly U.S. affairs. There's a university to these topics in their lyrics; they could be the tantrums of any car door-slamming teen or early twentysomething, a universality which seems to be exactly what Bennington and Shinoda are going for in their songs. The value-plus is a sensitivity and genuine-sounding depth of feeling to their deliveries that's unlike the machismo of many of their peers.

The lyrics of Hybrid Theory and its follow-up, 2003's Meteora, are of a piece, exploring and venting very personal kinds of turmoil. There are songs about walls closing in and wounds that will not heal ("Crawling"), "voices in the back of my head" ("Papercut"), being "about to break" ("One Step Closer") and not knowing who to trust ("From the Inside"). In "Breaking the Habit" Shinoda laments that "I took what I hated and made it part of me," while Bennington begs to "take back my life." And an undefined "you" is the demon corrupting their souls in the words to songs such as "Figure.09" and "Lying From You."

What bothers the duo broadens on 2007's Minutes to Midnight, which features dramatically less rapping than its predecessors. There's still plenty of internal maelstrom ("What the f--- is wrong with me/Put me out of my f---king misery!" Bennington pleads in his lyrics to "Given Up"), but Linkin Park has noticed there's a world out there, too, particularly on the gospel-tinged "Hands Held High" and the Bush-bashing fury of "The Little Things Give You Away," which references Iraq and Katrina in its lyrics as Bennington wails "All you've ever wanted was someone to truly look up to you/And six feet underwater, I do." The journey is just starting to get interesting...